Friday, October 28, 2005
GREAT START TO THE SERIES
Let me first apologise to you for the long absence. Some problems back in the home turf and I just could'nt think of the text editor for a few weeks!
Amidst all the chaos that descended upon Indian cricket of late, the brilliant comeback by the great Sachin Tendulkar brings a lot of relief to the Indian cricket lovers. The Chappell-Ganguly spat, Ganguly's elusive form, Harbhajan's
outburst etc have cast their shadow on Indian cricket scene. Dravid must have taken over as captain with great apprehension. The twelve-match tenure itself was not a positive gesture. Actually a change in leadership was thrust upon India by Ganguly's miserable form which refused stubbonly to leave him.Ganguly, a successful skipper, deserved a long rope and he got it too. But all he could scrape up was a hundred against Zimbabwe which might be beaten by a good English county with lots to spare. He did'nt help his cause too by blurting out against Chappell who played his cards quite correctly. Ganguly came down quite a few notches in public esteem with that incident. And the final nail was his relatively minor injury.
And the Sri Lankans were already upon us with all the confidence of being the second ranked ODI team. They had a three out of three record a couple of months back to bolster their sense of superiority over India. The new Indian sqwad too had caused the eyebrows to slide up.The new team did not have Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Kumble and Lakshman for various reasons. Two rookies were given the task of manning the pace department. All this pointed to a rather difficult start to the Sri Lankan series.
But totally unexpected was the result of the Nagpur match and the near-total dominance that India had over their full-strength rivals. And everything was made sweeter by the tremendous form that welcomed the maestro on his first international match in about six months. His inspiring innings paved the way for a delightful knock by Pathan which was followed by a spectacular assault by the new captain which
incidentally won him the man of the match award.
The pitch of course was a belter. But even during the Indian innings the ball was turning. Murali was able to turn the ball both ways with his peculiar action. Only the expertise of Tendulkar kept him at bay and young Pathan cleverly handled the offspinner with respect and played out his overs. But when Sri Lanka batted, the Indian spinners were able to extract more purchase from the pitch. Good line and a tad flatter trajectory made the ball behave with relatively more spite. The Sri Lankans could not get back into the game after the damage caused by the spinners. As the tail began to wag a bit, the debutant Srisanth got a chance to bowl and he finished the proceedings with two quick wickets. This boy who can bowl with some nip and movement, may prove to be useful in certain conditions.
This is a long series and the unexpected Indian efficiency hints at an exciting month ahead.
Amidst all the chaos that descended upon Indian cricket of late, the brilliant comeback by the great Sachin Tendulkar brings a lot of relief to the Indian cricket lovers. The Chappell-Ganguly spat, Ganguly's elusive form, Harbhajan's
outburst etc have cast their shadow on Indian cricket scene. Dravid must have taken over as captain with great apprehension. The twelve-match tenure itself was not a positive gesture. Actually a change in leadership was thrust upon India by Ganguly's miserable form which refused stubbonly to leave him.Ganguly, a successful skipper, deserved a long rope and he got it too. But all he could scrape up was a hundred against Zimbabwe which might be beaten by a good English county with lots to spare. He did'nt help his cause too by blurting out against Chappell who played his cards quite correctly. Ganguly came down quite a few notches in public esteem with that incident. And the final nail was his relatively minor injury.
And the Sri Lankans were already upon us with all the confidence of being the second ranked ODI team. They had a three out of three record a couple of months back to bolster their sense of superiority over India. The new Indian sqwad too had caused the eyebrows to slide up.The new team did not have Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Kumble and Lakshman for various reasons. Two rookies were given the task of manning the pace department. All this pointed to a rather difficult start to the Sri Lankan series.
But totally unexpected was the result of the Nagpur match and the near-total dominance that India had over their full-strength rivals. And everything was made sweeter by the tremendous form that welcomed the maestro on his first international match in about six months. His inspiring innings paved the way for a delightful knock by Pathan which was followed by a spectacular assault by the new captain which
incidentally won him the man of the match award.
The pitch of course was a belter. But even during the Indian innings the ball was turning. Murali was able to turn the ball both ways with his peculiar action. Only the expertise of Tendulkar kept him at bay and young Pathan cleverly handled the offspinner with respect and played out his overs. But when Sri Lanka batted, the Indian spinners were able to extract more purchase from the pitch. Good line and a tad flatter trajectory made the ball behave with relatively more spite. The Sri Lankans could not get back into the game after the damage caused by the spinners. As the tail began to wag a bit, the debutant Srisanth got a chance to bowl and he finished the proceedings with two quick wickets. This boy who can bowl with some nip and movement, may prove to be useful in certain conditions.
This is a long series and the unexpected Indian efficiency hints at an exciting month ahead.
